Natural gas futures gave up ground Friday as buyers moved to the sidelines after a furious rally earlier in the week. The June Nymex gas futures contract declined 22.5 cents day/day and settled at $8.083/MMBtu. Still, it gained 5.5% for the week. July shed 22.2 cents on Friday to $8.178.

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NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. fell 13.5 cents on the day to $7.805.

Small shifts in fundamentals appeared to give traders reason to hit the pause button after futures had soared above $8.50 at one point in the week.

Production estimates on Friday crept back up about 1 Bcf from earlier in the week to 95 Bcf, though output remained well below the 97 Bcf level reached in the midst of the past winter. Analysts widely agree production needs to climb back to that level to meet summer demand and...